Former PM Phan Van Khai was born on December 25, 1933, in Tan Thong Hoi commune, Cu Chi district, Ho Chi Minh city. He was elected to the Party politburo in 1991 and served as Prime Minister from September 1997 to June 2006. (Source: cafef.vn)

On June 24, 2006, Mr Khai announced his resignation one year before his term ended. At the 9th session of the 11th National Assembly, he said he wants to take responsibility for failing to prevent or detect certain serious cases.

PM Phan Van Khai attended the 1999 APEC Banquet in Auckland, New Zealand. On the sidelines of the forum, he had the first official meeting with US President Bill Clinton. (Source: Facebook Pham Sanh Chau)

In 2003, PM Phan Van Khai paid an official visit to Japan, during which the two sides discussed development aid, investment, and trade. In this photo, Mr Khai shakes hands with Japanese PM Junichiro Koizumi. (Source: news.zing.vn)

PM Phan Van Khai welcomed New Zealand PM Helen Clark during her official visit to Vietnam in 2003. (Source: news.zing.vn)

PM Phan Van Khai (front, first from left) at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Forum (APEC) in Thailand on October 21, 2003. (Source: news.zing.vn)

At the 10th ASEAN Summit in Laos in 2004, PM Phan Van Khai and his Southeast Asian counterparts signed an agreement lifting tariffs in eleven priority areas, with a view to creating a single market like European countries. (Source: news.zing.vn)

During Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen's visit to Vietnam in October 2005, PM Phan Van Khai (R) and his Cambodian counterpart signed an addendum to the agreement regulating the border between the two countries. (Source: news.zing.vn)

PM Phan Van Khai met US President George W. Bush in the Oval Office of the White House during his historic visit to the United States in June 2005. Mr Khai was the first Vietnamese government leader to visit the US, 30 years after the war ended. (Source: Tuoi Tre Newspaper)

Mr Khai's 2005 visit to the US was a major milestone in the development of relations, especially in economics, between the two countries, and resulted in the signing of several important contracts. In this photo, PM Phan Van Khai is visiting Harvard University. (Source: news.zing.vn)

PM Phan Van Khai and US Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez (second from right) witness the signing of a contract by Vietnam Airlines to purchase four Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner aircraft during his visit to the US in 2005. (Source: news.zing.vn)

During his US visit in 2005, PM Phan Van Khai met billionaire Bill Gates. The Vietnamese government signed with Microsoft two MoUs on developing Vietnamese information technology companies and providing computer training to more than 50,000 Vietnamese teachers. (Source: news.zing.vn)

On June 5, 2006, PM Phan Van Khai received US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld in Hanoi. They discussed reinforcement of defense cooperation, the search for missing Americans, and settlement of post-war consequences of Agent Orange. (Source: news.zing.vn)

Former Prime Minister Phan Van Khai's diplomatic legacy

21-03-2018 16:13

(VOVWORLD) - Mr Phan Van Khai (1933-2018) served as Vietnam’s Prime Minister from September 1997 to June 2006. A strong advocate for reform and international integration, he left an impressive diplomatic legacy.